How do I make a successful Car Insurance Claim?

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Every UK insurance company has a different procedure for car insurance claims. If you are parting with your money for premiums, you should make sure that you know what to do if you want to make a successful claim from the company. Thus, it would be advisable to take some time to familiarise yourself with the system that your insurance company uses for claims before you have to make use of it.

For every insurer, some things will always remain the same. As soon as you have an incident you should make sure that you inform your insurer as soon as possible. You don't have to wait until office hours to make a car insurance claim as most companies have 24 hour claim lines. When you do this, you should expect to be sent an accident report form. However, you should take the opportunity to ask the insurer exactly what they require you to do and what evidence they will be expecting.

Should you expect to be reimbursed for any expenses, you should keep all receipts and ensure that you photocopy any correspondence that is associated with your claim. Your claim will be dealt with as swiftly and smoothly as possible if you accurately and promptly provide any information that your insurer requires.

Have a look at your car and work out if you need any repairs. Don't just take the car in for repairs and hope they'll be paid for. Your insurance provider will most likely recommend to you a garage and you should take your car there. The whole claims procedure will be much quicker and simpler if you follow your insurer's recommendations fully, and they can deal with the repairer directly. Your insurer may also provide a courtesy car whilst your car is being repaired. At the very least your insurer needs to approve an estimate from a repairer they didn't recommend before they start working on it.

Your insurers need to agree to pay your car's repair costs, and until then any repair costs are your responsibility. You should get concrete confirmation about the state of your claim before proceeding with your claim. Remember that you will be required to pay the agreed level of excess even if your insurer will meet the repair costs, and this payment will normally be made straight to your repairing garage.

Of course, this all gets a bit more complicated should you only have third party insurance. If you are in an accident with someone else and it isn't your fault, you will need to claim from the other driver.

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